Textual analysis of digipak.

Haarp – Muse


This digipak contains a live DVD and a live CD from the bands Black Holes and Revelations tour at Wembley in 2007. From the cover the denotation we can make is that we can see the bands logo at the top of the case with the event name across the middle the band are silhouetted on the “haarp” logo and the stage can be seen behind that with the huge satellite themed lights towering over the logo. We can also see the Wembley arch between the satellite lights and underneath is the information and what the digipak contains the case is in black which creates a strong contrast with the white and gold in the pictures. The connotations we can make from the front cover is that the used of gold is trying to make the cover look elaborate and professional. Muse are famous for their use of lights on their live events them showing their huge lights on the cover emphasises this point. The Wembley arch shows where they played their gig and is a significance to the album as the album is a live production from Wembley stadium. The Album uses the main colours of black and gold throughout the digipak the CD and DVD are both assigned each colour.

Live 2003 – Coldplay


This Digipak also contains a live DVD and a live CD from the bands live tour in 2003.From the front cover alone the denotation we can make is that we can see the large crowd and the back of the lead singer. The whole front cover has been edited to be in black and white and the lead singer is in a shroud of light the band’s name and digipak are in white over a black background. The connotation we can from this front cover of a digipak is that they wanted the lead singer to see as though he had a massive involvement in the crowd as he seems to be erupting the crowd and as he is facing the crowd and away from the camera he implies that he was there for his fans and not for the fame of being on camera. The fact that the lead singer/fronts man isn’t actually standing on the stage insinuates that he had a lot of involvement with the crowd. The black and white front cover creates a strong contrast and makes the crowd look sharper

Live from the Royal Albert Hall – The Killers Digipak.



Again this digipak contains a DVD and a CD both featuring songs from the bands live performance at the Royal Albert Hall. From this front cover we can see the Royal Albert Hall with a full moon shining down on it. The whole front cover is design in a mosaic style which resembles closely with their latest album Day & Age front cover which looks identical minus the Royal Albert Hall, this ties in with the album as this live performance is from tour that followed that album. Therefore the connotation we can make with this digipak is that the use of purple is used to represent night time but using purple makes it feel calmer and more familiar than using black. The building in the middle of the front cover signifies where the live event was hosted. Purple is a reoccurring colour throughout this digipak. The connotations of the colour purple are royalty this ties with where the live performance was hosted

Textual analysis of music videos

Vlad the impaler – Kasabian

The first 8 seconds of this music video starts off with in a style of a dated film with the director’s name shown and other production teams listed. This then changes to show the main character in this video Vlad played by Noel Fielding walking towards the camera carrying a large stake in both hands. The camera is constantly moving to give a feel that your there watching. The title of the music video (Vlad the impaler) flashes up in red this gives a connotation of danger and threat. At 17 seconds the location changes to show Vlad’s home which is filled with numerous tools and machinery designed to makes weapons as we see him, this gives us the sense that he is a dangerous character. We then see the character at a tennis court watch two girls play tennis it then shows him murder the girl in the girl’s point of view. This theme carries on as we see Vlad attack numerous people with the same weapon the judgement that this character is dangerous is confirmed throughout the video. Red is a reoccurring colour which is often associated with Vlad this again provides the sense that he is a dangerous character. The whole video is film too look dated with a cheap feel about it, with a dated style of special effects.

Bliss – Muse

The video starts showing the main character of this music video up close. The main character is the lead singer from the band (Matt Bellamy) he is shown to have red hair and wearing a red top this provides a sense of danger but also a passion. This image changes to an establishing shot of the main location which appears to be a large hole outside a city. The establishing shot zooms in then changes to a bird’s eye view of the hole in the middle is a large plank where the main character stands. This zooms into his hair which we see blowing in the calm wind, an eerie music is being played at this moment. The camera angle then changes again to show what is down the hole and the music starts. when the music really gets started so does the video as we get quicker shots from different angles as we see the character plummet as the character plummets we see other member of the band watch him fall as he sings. The video is given a futuristic feel that ties in with the theme of the song. Although the band isn’t playing any of their instruments we do seem them regularly. This video then goes to show the main character float through space towards a large light where he disintegrates into.

Charmer – Kings 0f Leon

This video starts with an establishing shot of the location which is a deserted theatre the camera angles pans around as the stage curtain is lifted to show the band. We see the band silhouetted against the red back drop this gives a connotation of suspense and mystery. As the camera zooms in the lights slowly get brighter showing the band. The band is shown to play all their own instruments. This video provides some interesting close shots of the band playing their instruments which maybe useful for me when filming my band footage As the songs gets going, quicker shots are used when the song gets slower, slower shots are used. The main focus of this video is the lead singer. At some points it seems the video goes in slow motion which is a nice effect as it creates a sense of what is happening among all the quick shots. The entire band except for the lead singer is dressed in black this provides the lead singer to gain most of the cameras attention as he stands out the most. As the end the curtain drops shielding the band from the camera.

detailed potential story line

Below is one of our first initial ideas we had. Other group members Alex Williams and Natasha Green weren't overally keen on this idea however some of the ideas have potential to be in our final cut.

Dark shots night time, artificial lighting inside, dark clothes for riot, army jumpsuits etc, flares torches.

Close up of guitar playing intro, 0 – 6 seconds

Zoom out guitar at front rest of band behind at an angle 6 – 12 seconds

Different angles of band fast short shots 12 – 25 seconds

Riot crowd travelling 25 – 38 seconds

Army torturing riot person setting fire to banner using truth serum 38 – 50 seconds

Band 50 – 1.02 min

Riot crowd walking get our flags and signs large mass 1.02 – 1.20

Army gathering together guns and armoury etc 1.20 – 1.40

Riot crowd storm building find laptop, laptop shows band playing zooms in on screen
1.40 – 2.10

Band 2.10 – 2.16

Riot crowd closing laptop and exiting building 2.16 – 2.28

Army sneaking up on riot crowd 2.28 – 2.41

Band at riot/army location 2.41 – 2.54

Army start to attack riot crowd + band clips 2.54 – 3.36

Fight of riot crowd against army riot crowd falling 3.36 – 3.46

Riot crowd escape run back past band then army chase after firing leaves band
playing 3.46 – 3.39

Band members throw masks towards camera 3.39 – 4.03

A2 Music Video Group Meeting 1

Group members present: Elliot Smith, Natasha Green and Alex Williams

Band: Muse
Song Name: MK Ultra

During our group meeting this afternoon we discussed the ideas that are the main factors contributing into the production of our music video. The main purpose of today’s meeting was to discuss the ideas behind filming of the band footage parts of the video. We talked about the locations, props, equipment, costumes and the roles that are vital for the music video.

We decided that for the location of the band footage we would use Alex Williams's brother Simon's house for the filming, the reason why we chose this location is because Simon's bedroom reflects that of a Victorian bedroom so large space with high ceilings. This is vital as it gives us a lot more room to use.

We have also decided who will play as the band members in our footage, we have decided to use fellow group member Alex Williams, our friend Sam Taylor and myself for the actually footage as our builds resembles that of the band and we believe we can do a good job at mimicking the band.

We also discuss equipment and how it will be used. From our meeting we deduced that we will need roughly five cameras including camera stands, this is so we can get a varied range on angles, a red bulb to create a red glow and atmosphere, torches with different coloured filters (mainly orange) to further create atmosphere and a warm glow and finally a CD player so that we can listen to our chosen track and so we can mimic it accurately.

As props go we have decided that we need instruments (lead guitar, bass guitar, a drum kit, a microphone and a stand for the microphone), each band members will be wearing a full face white mask with each having individual costumes and we will need amps for our instruments.

When we were discussing costumes we were trying to think of ideas we can use that would mimic that of the bands current style. We decided that for Matt Bellamy (being played by Sam Taylor) he should wear tight red trousers, a white t-shirt, a red hooded jacket, dark shoes and a white face mask. For Dominic Howard (being played by myself Elliot Smith) we decided that he should wear tight green trousers, a white t-shirt, a black hooded jumper, dark shoes and the white full face white mask. And finally for Chris wolstenholme (being played by Alex Williams) White trousers, a white t-shirt, a black suit jacket, dark shoes and a white full face mask.

When discussing roles we have already assign people to the band member’s roles, but we will need about five camera men and at least three people to control our light system. We will give these roles friends who are willing to help out.

Theorists and Theories

Theorists and theories used to analysis a music or film product.

My first theorist is Roland Barthes (12th November 1915 – 25th March 1980) he was a French social and literary critic and he developed the theory concerning layers of meaning.

Roland Bathes. He founded the following theory of layers of meaning.

The first level of signification is denotation which is the description of what we see. Denotation is a visual significance of a product, nothing more.

E.g. Front cover to a digipak has a picture of a band on it.

The second level of significance is connotation. Connotation is what we think of the denotation, so connotation is what we think when we see an image.

E.g. Colour red suggests danger, threat, aggression and evil but also passion and love.

The third and final level of significance is myth or ideology. Myth or ideology is simply when you combine all the connotations together and try to grasp what the big picture of a product is.

E.g. Pictures of childhood toys and a strong mix of red insinuates that the product is playful with a sense of danger.

My second theorist is Laura Mulvey (15th August 1941 – present) how is a film and media studies professor. She developed the theory of the males gaze.
The male gaze is the theory that films and T.V products are film in a male’s point of view, they show males desires and males needs while neglecting the needs of a women.

E.g. In certain rap videos females are portrayed to be objects of sexual desire and nothing more or pictures showing male superiority over women.

My final theorist is Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883). He was a German philosopher who stated that everything in our capitalist society is focused around making a profit.

E.g. Music videos play it safe and don’t bring up controversial discussions as this might affect sales and limit profits.

Voyeurism is the act of viewing the activities of other people unbeknown to them.

E.g. watching a movie or television the person watching it will be known as the voyeur as they are watching someone else undertake activities whom of which are unaware.

Poster analysis

Summary of research

From all the research above I have helped myself focus what I want to achieve through my music film production and the steps needed to achieve my desired product. Through the numerous group discussions I have had with fellow group members Alex Williams and Natasha Green we have successfully created a strong concept for a Muse music video concerning the song MK Ultra will details briefly the conspiracy surrounding project MK Ultra and also show images of Muse playing their song. We have developed our ideas into two sections. In one section we intend to show the band playing and the other will show the main story line of the music video.

Though looking at the music genres and the concepts involved in them, I have helped myself focus in on the style that Muse use in their music and in their videos. We have managed to capture their unique style and hopefully with our ideas play on with their current theme.

When analysing the music genre, videos and digipaks I found it very useful to refer back to key theorists such as Roland Barthes. With his theories kept in mind about layers of meaning and the concepts of denotation and connotation I found it generally easier to see around what is shown. His theories also help me take a much better understanding in Muse’s style and what things I need to keep in mind when making the final product. Karl Marx has helped me focus in at what I want to achieve from my music video and show me the direction I need to take to gain public views and profits of my film.

When I analysed the Music videos directed by professionals I found it useful to understand that a video doesn’t generally need to elaborate and full on a successful music video can be created quite simply and on the cheap but when I looked at Muse’s music videos this turns what I thought on its head. Muse focus a lot on style and design making their videos very artistic if we are going to make a video for them then I need copy and manipulate their style so I can produce a cheap production but also keep the image they have created.

When discussing which music label would best suit our music video it was important to take in account that our target audience are. Our initial intended audience would be young adults and teenagers but we intend to keep the audience as mainstream as possible so in that sense we would like our video to be able to be enjoyed by a large array of audiences. Because we want access to a large amount of audiences we will have to keep our video as audience friendly as possible. As a group we decided our ideal music label would be Warner Music Group (WMG) although thinking more sensibly it would be best suited if we broadcasted the video through websites such as YouTube or even the official Muse website. As we will be broadcasting the video through these websites we won’t be making a profit so we need to keep costs down as low as possible.

All my research has affected my planning of my film, it has caused some of my ideas to be affected some of which have been improved and others I have to abandon as they will not tie in with the themes that Muse have created.

The history of music videos

In modern time music videos represent a crucial part of the music industry. They act to open up the viewers eyes to what the band/artist intend them to see, and allows viewers to enjoy music in a whole new way. Music videos not only showcase an artist's singing talent, but also how they perform. Many musical artists made their careers a success by using music videos.

One could say that the very first music video was created in the late 19th century when a series of still pictures were projected onto a screen with live music playing simultaneously, this become a very popular form of entertainment but it took just
over 60 years to really hit off.

The history of the modern music video has its roots in the early 1960s with The Beatles first major motion picture, 'A Hard Day's Night'. This 1964 Beatles movie included musical segments that resemble today's music videos. That same year, the band began filming short promotional films for their songs which were then aired on television on variety of shows. The band used these promotional videos to boost tour sales and record sales. This idea soon developed further and several other bands from that generation followed cue such as The Beach Boys and The Animals who interpreted their music into promotional videos too.

By 1974 making music videos were a popular concept for many band/artists and it were these videos that aided the Australian programme Countdown to be aired on television. Countdown aired these promotional videos to viewers in a bid to increase record sales and develop music videos further.

On August 1st 1981 music videos were broadcasted on MTV for the very first time with the hit “video killed the radio star” by The Buggles which is a bit ironic as it was from here when music videos really started to make an impression on the music industry.

Singers like Madonna not only used music videos to promote their albums, but to create their images. In 1983, the almost 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller," was released. It became the world's most successful and influential video in music video history.
Nowadays, the music video is nearly as important as the song itself, sometimes even deciding the success of a song or artist. Collections of music videos are being sold on DVDs. Music video's greatest fans are apparently watching them muted just to enjoy their artistic value, as they consider it to be a new form of art. They consider that a music video should be assessed based on its visual qualities and not on the song quality. Female sex-appeal in music videos have become very popular as of late therefore this feature is being used excessively it music genres such as rap and hip-hop.

In conclusion, although music videos have been widely used to entertain viewers and influence the music the industry, it still relates with its originally purpose, to promote and make money.

Typical music label that might distribute our music video.

In an ideal situation we would hope that our music video would be produced and distributed to a major record company such as Sony, Emi, Warner and Universal. Ideally we would like to work in partnership with Warner Music Group (WMG) as not only will this maximise overall profit and general attention to our film but it will also tie in with previous Muse productions as previous videos have be distributed through WMG. Through our music video being distributed through Warner we can find ourselves in a better position to gain more views and more public awareness to our product. However as our music video will be produced on a low budget we can expect to find ourselves to be working with an independent record label such as stiff. Through using stiff we will have more of a say of how our video will be produced and distributed. Although we will find ourselves out of public awareness and generally profits will be less. We can also distribute this product ourselves through social networks and websites such as the video giant YouTube the benefits of using YouTube is that we can potentially get huge public awareness although we wont be making and direct profit from publishing it on YouTube we can expect people want to purchase the digpak that we produce and from that making a profit. Ideally we would like to get to point where our music video is being shown on the numerous television channels available such as MTV or NME. Another possibility would be to distribute the music video through the official Muse website, although we will need Muse official permission to broadcast it on the website we can hope to generate public views which have a better focus as they will be the band’s fans searching through the website this will promote gigs for the band and we generate profits for us.

Music Video reasoning

Here is the summary of our reasoning behind our video

After watching Muse live at Wembley back in September 11th 2010 we decided to make a video for them. We based it on their most recent album Resistance. We decided to use the 8th song on the album which is Mk Ultra. When we saw Muse live there was a strong feel of conspiracy and government control in their songs and their lyrics reflect this. At the beginning of the gig Muse were introduced with a riot which were meant to represent the G20 which took place in London a couple of years back, This introduction goes with the first song on the album which is Uprising however, we really liked the idea of the riot and decided to try and use the strong feel and exhilarating tension it created into our music video idea. The whole Mk Ultra background meaning is that of the American research and developing mind altering/controlling drugs back during late world war 2 we are going to try and represent this background story into a more modern situation,
From this we fashioned the idea of a rebellion against this drug, with the band leading the revolt.
In Muse’s music videos they rarely stay in one place so we decided to move the band footage outside when the narrative story went outside and stay inside when the story is revolves around being inside.

group meeting

Group meeting Septmeber 14th all group members present

Through the group discussion we looked at the prospects of making a music video or a short film. In our group discussion we were trying to generate some key ideas for either project of a small film or a music video. When we were contemplating the short film we wanted it to be based loosely around a comedy so we spent some time trying to find some witty jokes on the internet and trying to come up with an idea where we can incorporate the joke into a five minute film.
Problems occurred when the jokes we found weren’t suitable for film production or the jokes themselves weren’t funny enough to be made into a short film.
We then had a look at the prospects of making a music video we were able to generate better initial ideas. Through the group discussion we found this project to have the most potential.

For the music video we thought of using clips of videos we have already collected from previous gigs and festivals, we thought we could join these clips together and produce a live performance of a chosen band but we found our footage to be quite shaky which will be too inappropriate for a professional looking film.
Over the summer just gone, members of our group collected footage of some of the highlights of the holiday for a personal film for friends who are going their separate ways. We managed to collect up to 5 hours of actual footage which we could make into a film with a song played with it. The song doesn’t generally need to be associated with the clips but through the clips we can create a story for viewers for the purpose to entertain. If we use our own footage already collected we don’t generally need to show any band members as the story being shown shall be relevant enough.

In the end we decided against that and we thought of a whole new concept of creating a desired band and filming a story around them.

Summary and Description of Music Genre

The music genre we aim to work with is ‘alternative rock’ although the other genres we could possibly look into is ‘indie rock’ or ‘pop’, through this genre we have access to a lot of new upcoming bands as well as bands that have been around for a while. Each one creating an interesting video that brings out their genre of music. Alternative rock emerged during the 1980’s, although it didn’t really get popular until the mid 1990’s as it was seen as a rejection of mainstream culture through bands such as Blink 182 and Oasis. From the huge success these bands created new bands followed in their wake and now days we can see hundreds of bands labeled under the alternative rock genre.

The main band which we would like to work with is Muse, over the years Muse have created a unique style of music which comes from their fusion of many different music genres such as progressive rock, classical music, heavy metal, electronica and alternative rock. Their songs vary dramatically from their instrumental symphonies on the resistance album to the metal of Stockholm Syndrome on the Absolution album this shows their great flair of combining multiple different genres into one incredible song.